Reviews by JohnQVegas:

Gold-waxed bottle into Bruery tulip, with the ever-generous Jeff (AleWatcher) to thank for the opportunity.

Pours deep, very hazy copper-brown with a solid two fingers of creamy off-white head after an aggressive pour. Settles into a nice solid cap after a bit of time, leaving gorgeous solid sheets of lacing along the way.

Taste is very balanced. Underlying toasted caramel body underpins a piny, grapefruity, firmly bitter hop character from start to finish, with the bitterness lingering sharply on the palate. Prickly and astringent from the second it hits your tongue till long after you swallow, definitely aggressive. Sits the fence between IPA and DIPA for me - the big malt body and correspondingly firmer bitterness place it firmly in the boundaries my mind has laid out as Midwestern in style.

Mouthfeel is nice - prickly, astringent, smooth and a bit creamy. Almost fluffy carbonation sinks up with all those prickly hop oils to make your mouth just tingle.

Drinkability is the only major knock this one has. Just a bit heavy on the lingering bitterness for me, and the astringency can build. But even so, no problem finishing a bottle of this one on my own.

More User Reviews:

Bottle courtesy of Ken. Grapefruity aroma, its wonderful. Its in the taste and wafts in the room. One-quarter inch of head and its lacey. Good IPA with orange as well as flavour. Decent drinkability. Surperior IPA, and not overwhelming bitterness, its understated. Is tehre Simco and Amarillo?

22 oz metallic gold wax topped bomber into a tulip glass. Bought this one fresh at the brewpub and cracked a few days later.

Pours a slightly hazy deep copper, with 1 1/2 fingers of rich eggshell head. Retention here is great, flaring up to a robust 1/2 finger when swirled, just slathering heavy swathes of thick foam all down the sides of the glass. The aroma is floral and a touch spicy at first but citric hops pretty much end up dominating this, with leafy and herbal textures and sweeter fruity tones that come out as well. Malts add some substance and help weigh things down in the nose. Things get progressively danker in the back of the nostrils as this warms.

The bitterness up front is more earthy and spicy but eventually resins emerge as the hops spread out across the palate. The sweetness moves in next, involving not only some gritty and green tasting citrus but also some more tangy tasting tropical tones as well. A sticky mix of bead and caramel help shore up the back of the profile. This finishes with a good bit of earth, pine, and LOTS of dry lingering spice. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, with the carbonation bringing all kind of different textures to the table, being oily up front, sharper in the middle, and then finally creamy in the back of the throat as you swallow. The one thing that is definite, is that that 8% ABV is nearly non-existent here.

Those Columbus hops brought a little bit of everything to the table they never did quite blow me away. A certain amount of pop just seemed to be missing but there's no mistaking that this had a super easy feel and good overall drinkibility for an IPA of this size. Definitely more things to like here than dislike.

Sunset orange fades into gold, some suspended particles are visible at close range. Languid trails of bubbles rise through the liquid, into a dense, creamy island of foam. There's sticky lacing all around the glass. Looks very nice, and it's retention is good.

Pungent sweet tropical nose at first, segueing into orange and grapefruit notes later. Leafy and fresh green hops. This just hit the shelves and is super fresh. Really like the nose on this.

Flavor is somewhat balanced, identifiable pale malts ride alongside the bitter grapefruit rind, with a dry & herbal bitterness in the aftertaste. Light citrus sweetness is snuffed by the building bitterness in subsequent sips. Not quite as punchy as the aroma, but it's similarly pleasant. Fairly mellow but full for an IPA, as is usually the case in this series. I'll probably buy a few more of these before the next installment of the IPA series.

pour was very nice with a rich light amber in color. Nice small haze to it and lots of carbonation was apparent as it bubbled up to the surface. Huge foamy head of white made me pour this one several times to get it all in the glass and left tons of sticky lace on the insides. Tons of hops here as I lean in for the first whiff. Pineapple and orange zest, hints of lemon, very fresh and very bright, this was exactly what I would have wanted it to be. Smooth, delicous, and rediculously drinkable this very bright ale was a wonderfully refreshing drink as I relaxed from a long day in the yard. Crisp hop bite and a really nice long drawn out finis

I feel like these beers kinda get a bad rap. With the expense and the bottling and the rotating thing, the expectations are a rotating Elder/Sculpin/PureHoppiness firebomb of hoppy delight every time and out. And that might be fair... but whenever I receive a bottle from my good friends in the midwest there I'm always pleasantly surprised by how good they really are, even if "good," as here, falls somewhere short of greatness.

Pours a deep orange with a tinge of mahogany, crystal clear with nice head and moderate lacing and solid retention into my Spiegelau tulip.

Aroma is a solid bouquet of tangerine/manderin oranges with a bit or warm roast to the edge (kind of reminds me of crepes suzette, to get ultra specific and therefore incredibly arcane and snobby).

On the palate this doesn't explode, but rather rolls over in a smooth, comfortable wave. Nice balance, and even with a solid malt bill this only has a moderate sweetness that finishes cleanly. Tangerines are again the predominate fruit note, blending with some of the caramel malt for a fuller experience.

Nice medium body with a clean finish that's not overly crisp but eliminates any prospective chewiness.

I'd be happy to quaff this any time. That said, it's a nice beer, not a great beer.

I'll flat out say it at the start: this might be one of the
midwest's best IPAs.

Poured into a Flossmoor Station pint glass... And this beer is glowing. It looks great. A coppery orange with 2 fingers of thick fluffy white head. Great retention and lacing. Absolutely incredible looking.

A sweet malt bill is present for rolecall and then ditches class fir the rest of the semester. The fresh hops are kicking down my front door and demanding entrance to the party in my mouth. I'll bring the funk, they'll bring the flavor! Fresh floral and citrus
with a hint of melon? Very tasty and enjoyable. This reminds me of a cross between Alesmith IPA and Pliny the Elder with a Midwestern freshness kick.

There is just enough pine mingling with the bitter on the finish to really leave you that oily teeth coated feeling. Carbination level is great for the style and fits this medium bodies brew perfectly.

$8 per bomber from the brewery seems like a decent price for the freshest of the fresh. I would stock this year round if I could make trips there often enough.

Pours a hazy dark orange with thick white head. Tons of piney hops on the nose, but I am not getting as much of them in the flavour. I get a nice amount of bitterness, but still lots of malt base. I taste orange and caramel sweetness. A very well balanced IPA. Not a hop bomb, but delicious. Quite smooth mouthfeel.

I poured from a bomber into an SA perfect pint glass. The pour is clear copper with a sticky 2 finger head. It leaves perfect lace rings on the sides of the glass. The aroma is full of juicy citrus. It has a very good flavor, grapefruit, mango and pineapple with a lingering bitter aftertate. The feel is medium and sticky/oily. A great IPA that taste like a bigger beer. Thanks to bauermc for this one.

22oz. bottle received as an extra in a recent trade with lurchingbeast. Thanks again man!

Pours a very dark golden orange/amber color with burnt orange hues when held to a light source and a two finger frothy, soapy yellowish head. Excellent retention, only slowly fading into a lasting cap that leaves chunks and streaks of soapy lacing behind.

Earthy hop aroma with hints of pine needle, citrus fruit and a toasty malt presence. There is a subtle tropical fruit/orange peel presence but the hops provide more of the dry, earthy pine character in the nose. The mat presence is pretty strong with a slight toasted biscuit character along with a subtle graham crackery note.

Slightly chewy medium body with a lot of dry, bitter hops up front that linger throughout over a strong malt backbone into a long dry finish. Again, the hops provide mostly a dry, earthy pine flavor but there is a subtle tropical citrus fruit presence as well, orange peel being the most prominent. There is a very strong mat backbone which provides a bit too much balance for my liking, overpowering the hops. The maltiness tastes slightly toasty with hints of caramel, biscuit and graham cracker. The high ABV is very well masked making this beer pretty quaffable. I feel that this beer could have been a lot better but the malt profile is just too strong for my preference.

Taste:Lots of hop bitterness, grapefruit, and sweet malt in the foretaste. Hints of pineapple and tropical fruits in the midtaste. The bitterness lingers throughout the whole beer and into the aftertaste.

S - There's some dank hoppiness here, but nowhere near as much as I would expect from a beer with a "generous usage of Columbus hops". More tropical fruits and sweet caramel malts. As usual, the hefty malt bill makes this seem more like an English IPA than an American one. Smells good, just not what I was expecting.

T - Meh. Mostly malt sweetness and bread, with a bit of earthy bitterness showing up at the back end of things. Aftertaste also contains mild bitterness. Higher ABV for an IPA is well-hidden here thankfully.

M - Low carbonation, with only a little tingle on the top of the palate. Medium, smooth, body, that ends sticky with a touch of oily hop resin. Probably the best thing about this brew.

D - The low carbonation, smooth texture, and attenuated bitterness make this surprisingly drinkable. Tastes more like over-sweetened fruit punch than IPA. Not bad, and a little better than the last few efforts but still pretty bland.

Has Flossmoor imposed a strict hop budget on Brian, or is he secretly wishing he was living in the UK? I think the simplest solution is to reduce the malt bill and let the hops shine through a little more; you can sense they are there, but buried. Or perhaps they should just abandon the Brewer's Whim series and replace it with the monthly jalapeno and cinnamon beers. At least then I could avoid the temptation of buying yet another uninspired effort.

Poured from a 22oz. bottle acquired in a trade with AleWatcher (Thanks!) into my new Flossmoor Station pint glass courtesy of AleWatcher as well (06/30/10).

A: Pours a slightly hazy caramel with two fingers off white head that leaves behind thick lacing.

S: As soon as I cracked this one open a beautiful hop aroma of citrus and pine shot out of the bottle. Really fresh smelling IPA.

T: Tastes of fresh hops with layers of citrus, pine, melon, pineapple, and a hint of tropical. A nice malt-backbone of caramel is there as well and add some balance to the bitterness. Really a nice tasting beer.

M: Fuller-bodied and fairly thick for the style with moderate and creamy carbonation.

D: Very drinkable and I wish I had another.

Overall this was a really nice IPA that to me drank more like a DIPA. Thanks Jeff! Recommended.

This has been the most enjoyable of the last 4 Brewer's Whim IPAs for me. The malt presence is a little high at times, but provides a nice balance. Tasted on-tap at DLD and thought it was pretty good, but this bottle was great.

I picked up this bottle in Chicago last week, gold wax. The beer is clear, sort of a deep copper color, plenty of white foam. The beer smells hoppy, so much grapefruit but also a huge dose of malt. Apparently Columbus hops, a really nice smell that comes off strong on fruit. It has a good flavor too, although I wouldn't mind a little less malt. There a good dose of caramel in the aftertaste after all.

One big plus is the light mouthfeel, this has the casky body that I associate with the best Flossmoor IPA's. Really satisfying.

Textbook AIPA aroma. Sweet slices of pink grapefruit drizzled in a light caramel sauce. There's some lemon and other citrus and tropical notes as well.

The taste is prickly bitterness at first, an orange peel bitterness lingers long in the aftertaste, quickly washing caramel that reminds me of a Mackintosh's Toffee. A mite yeasty with just a hint of pineapple juice. Not a lot more going on than that for me, but there's nothing wrong with a small number focused flavours working together really well.

Medium bodied, light carbonation.

Yeah, a really well done IPA, a tad malt-forward as these things go, but still great. I'd get it again.